In wireless communication networks, the frequency domain is divided into a plurality of channels, which are also referred to as carriers. Each of these carriers has a predefined bandwidth (or simply “width”) in the frequency domain. The individual bandwidths of the carriers may be different, even in the same frequency spectrum. A typical carrier width used in the LTE standard is, e.g., 20 MHz. The carrier width may vary, e.g., based on the frequency region in which the respective carrier is located or based on the used communication standard.
Further, the technique of Carrier Aggregation, CA, makes it possible to use at least two of these carriers in uplink (UL) or in downlink (DL) for data transmission to or from the same wireless device. When CA is used, the individual aggregated carriers are also referred to as Component Carriers (CC).
However, currently the bandwidth of the individual carriers is treated to be fixed and there is no possibility to adjust the bandwidth dynamically in order to benefit, e.g., from the advantages of a larger bandwidth. Even when Carrier Aggregation Is applied, the width of the individual Component Carriers is still fixed. Therefore, the current technology is inflexible with regard to the possibility of adjusting a channel width dynamically.
Further, currently there is also no way to identify which carrier bandwidths should be treated/used as narrowband carriers and which carriers should be combined as larger width carrier—before even carrying out a transmission process (cf. listen before talk, LBT operation and subsequent data transmission in aggregated carriers).